Search results matching tags 'Community' and 'presentations'http://sqlblog.com/search/SearchResults.aspx?o=DateDescending&tag=Community,presentations&orTags=0Search results matching tags 'Community' and 'presentations'en-USCommunityServer 2.1 SP2 (Build: 61129.1)Some Thoughts on Event Speaker Selectionhttp://sqlblog.com/blogs/andy_leonard/archive/2014/11/26/some-thoughts-on-event-speaker-selection.aspxWed, 26 Nov 2014 11:06:00 GMT21093a07-8b3d-42db-8cbf-3350fcbf5496:56812andyleonard<p><i>I write this from the perspective of experience. I’ve helped organize dozens of events over the past ten years. Feel free to take the parts of this advice that help and discard the parts that don’t. Enjoy!</i></p> <p>Planning an event is hard work. If you’ve never volunteered to help your local User Group or SQL Saturday, I encourage you to get involved. You will work hard and put a lot into it. But I promise you will get more out of it than you put in.</p> <p>Every organizer is free to organize their event in whatever way works for them. Different organizers have different goals. Not all goals align and not all goals are compatible. And that’s as it should be. It’s important to <i>have</i> a goal, though. Don’t go into organizing an event without priorities. Perhaps your priorities will include providing a forum for first-time presenters to speak. Perhaps your priorities will include facilitating well-known technologists presenting deep-dive topics. These priorities are mutually exclusive but many other priorities are not. (There’s no rule against mutually exclusive priorities…)</p> <p><i>Thought 1: Set some priorities. </i></p> <p>You may decide to host an open call for presenters. You may decide to invite presenters to deliver certain content. Either is fine. SQL Saturdays and the PASS Summit host open calls for presentations. Each year a number of first-time presenters are selected to present at SQL Saturdays and the PASS Summit. I think this is awesome! In fact, I’ve long encouraged the PASS Summit organizers to include more first-time presenters. Although I doubt I was the only person who made this recommendation, I’m very pleased that there are more first-time presenters than ever at PASS Summit events. </p> <p>Growing first-time presenters is good for the community. Will they make mistakes? Probably. I did. Allowing first-timers to get up there and take a shot is an investment in the future of the community. </p> <p><i>Thought 2: If you’re hosting an open call for presentations, set aside some slots for first-time presenters.</i></p> <p>Speaker selection is hard, especially when there are more speakers than available speaking slots. As an organizer, priorities can help here. When I organized events, they grew in popularity to the point where we had more speakers than slots. Our selection committee decided to award a single slot to as many speakers as possible, and promised those not awarded a priority at the next event. Some speakers (few, thankfully) were unwilling to present unless they received multiple sessions. Those speakers were rarely accommodated at events for which I volunteered. While I understand the desire of a speaker to maximize the value of their travel and time, the event is about more than any one speaker.</p> <p>It is impossible to please everyone. Are you bored? Do you like a good fight? Tune into Twitter the day after PASS Summit session selections are announced. You will be sure to catch disappointment and complaints (sometimes from me!). It’s simply impossible to award everyone who submits an abstract a session. It gets even more complicated when the (non-trivial) amount of money PASS Summit pre-conference sessions generate are added to the mix. </p> <p>The fact someone complains doesn’t mean you did a bad job. It means someone doesn’t like the way you did your job. And since most organizers are volunteers, you don’t have to worry about losing any (more) money. While listening to complaints about the free hours you poured into this volunteer effort stinks to high heaven, please realize this is part of the job. If you are the type of individual who doesn’t tolerate complaints well, please do not do this to yourself!</p> <p><i>Thought 3: Realize someone is going to complain.</i></p> <p>Some of the complaints will be valid. If you select only your friends or only people who fall into this category or that, you can expect legitimate complaints. If you have more submissions than slots and you select some speakers for multiple presentations while not selecting other speakers, again, expect complaints. Ethics come into play here as well. If you select yourself, be prepared to defend your selection – especially if selecting yourself means not selecting someone else, there’s money involved (like the PASS Summit pre-conferences), you have a non-trivial personal relationship with the person selected, or some combination thereof. Remember, you don’t have to <i>be</i> wrong to <i>appear</i> wrong, and all that’s required to breach ethics is the <i>appearance</i> of misconduct. It’s usually best to simply pick someone else.</p> <p>Again, priorities can help. Be aware of the perceptions of your choices. People are lousy at reading minds, so publicly communicating your priorities in advance will diffuse mounds of misperceptions. Privately communicating with those not selected will help as well. It sounds trivial – especially when dealing with an experienced, national- or international-level speaker – to drop them a note saying, “We didn’t select you this time but we appreciate your submission and promise to give your submission priority consideration next year.” But it helps. Failure to communicate is a devastating leadership flaw, volunteer or no.</p> <p>The best response to legitimate complaints is to admit your mistake, apologize for it, and work to correct it – immediately and / or in the future.</p> <p><i>Thought 4: Respond to valid complaints.</i></p> <p>These are a few bullets I hope will help everyone managing or considering organizing an event. Thank you, event organizers, for all you do for our community!</p> <p>:{&gt;</p>Presenting Using Biml as an SSIS Design Patterns Engine at NoVaSQL in Washington DC Monday!http://sqlblog.com/blogs/andy_leonard/archive/2014/03/19/presenting-using-biml-as-an-ssis-design-patterns-engine-at-novasql-in-washington-dc-monday.aspxWed, 19 Mar 2014 15:57:55 GMT21093a07-8b3d-42db-8cbf-3350fcbf5496:53287andyleonard<p>I am honored to present <a href="http://www.novasql.com/" target="_blank">Using Biml as an SSIS Design Patterns Engine</a> Monday 24 Mar 2014 at the Northern Virginia SQL Server User Group (<a href="http://www.novasql.com/" target="_blank">NoVaSQL</a>)!</p> <p>I hope to see you there. <a href="http://www.novasql.com/" target="_blank">Details…</a></p> <p>:{&gt;</p>Presenting Using Biml as a Design Patterns Engine to Midlands PASS 9 Jan 2014!http://sqlblog.com/blogs/andy_leonard/archive/2013/12/29/presenting-using-biml-as-a-design-patterns-engine-to-midlands-pass-9-jan-2014.aspxSun, 29 Dec 2013 18:55:00 GMT21093a07-8b3d-42db-8cbf-3350fcbf5496:52263andyleonard<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Server-Integration-Services-Design-Patterns/dp/1430237716" target="_blank"><img title="image" style="border-top:0px;border-right:0px;background-image:none;border-bottom:0px;float:left;padding-top:0px;padding-left:0px;border-left:0px;display:inline;padding-right:0px;" border="0" alt="image" src="http://sqlblog.com/blogs/andy_leonard/image_143DEFAE.png" width="190" align="left" height="240" /></a>I am honored to present Using Biml as a Design Patterns Engine to the <a href="http://midlands.sqlpass.org/" target="_blank">Midlands PASS Chapter</a> Thursday 9 Jan 2014!</p> <p>Summary: Business Intelligence Markup Language provides a powerful solution for creating and managing SSIS Design Patterns. Andy Leonard, one of the authors of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Server-Integration-Services-Design-Patterns/dp/1430237716" target="_blank">SSIS Design Patterns</a>, demonstrates the flexibility of BIML in this session.</p> <p><a href="https://www.eventbrite.com/e/using-biml-as-an-ssis-design-patterns-engine-tickets-9774803701" target="_blank">Register here</a>!</p> <p>If you will be near Columbia, SC one week from Thursday and read this blog, stop by and introduce yourself. I’m the fat guy with a fu.</p> <p>I hope to see you there!</p> <p>:{&gt;</p>Presenting A Day of SSIS 2012 (Precon) at SQL Saturday Dallashttp://sqlblog.com/blogs/andy_leonard/archive/2013/08/28/presenting-a-day-of-ssis-2012-precon-at-sql-saturday-dallas.aspxWed, 28 Aug 2013 11:30:00 GMT21093a07-8b3d-42db-8cbf-3350fcbf5496:50699andyleonard<p>I am honored to present a day-long preconference before <a href="http://sqlsaturday.com/255/eventhome.aspx" target="_blank">SQL Saturday 255 (Dallas)</a> entitled <a href="https://adayofssis2012.eventbrite.com/" target="_blank">A Day of SSIS 2012</a>. </p> <p><a href="https://adayofssis2012.eventbrite.com/" target="_blank">Please register here</a>. I’m excited to visit the Dallas area! Here’s some information about the precon – I hope to see you there! </p> <p><strong><em>Training Description</em></strong></p> <p>A Day of SSIS was developed by Andy Leonard to train technology professionals in the fine art of using SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) to build data integration and Extract-Transform-Load (ETL) solutions.</p> <p>The training is focused around lectures and emphasizes a practical approach.</p> <p><strong><em>Target Audience</em></strong></p> <p>The target audience for this training is database professionals, application developers, and business intelligence practitioners interested in acquiring or expanding their existing SSIS skill set.</p> <p><strong><em>Prerequisites</em></strong></p> <p>No experience with SQL Server or SQL Server Integration Services is required before attending this training.</p> <p>It is helpful (but not required) that students possess some knowledge of and experience with relational databases. SQL Server knowledge / experience will be more helpful than experience and knowledge with other technologies.</p> <p><strong><em>Training Objectives</em></strong></p> <p>At the conclusion of the training, attendees will have been exposed to:</p> <ul> <li>Using SSIS to develop data integration solutions. </li> <li>Using SSIS to load a database table. </li> <li>Troubleshooting real-world SSIS Data Flow Task errors. </li> <li>Deploying SSIS Solutions. </li> <li>Managing, monitoring, and administering SSIS in the enterprise.</li> </ul> <p><strong><em> <br /></em></strong></p> <p><strong><em></em></strong></p> <p><strong><em>Training Summary</em></strong></p> <p>Lesson 0: Introduction</p> <ul> <li>Training overview, expectations, and introductions.</li> </ul> <p>Lesson 1: Creating Your First SSIS 2012 package</p> <ul> <li>Introduction to SQL Server Data Tools. Visual Studio tips and tricks, menu contents and locations.</li> </ul> <p>Lesson 2: Introduction to the Data Flow Task</p> <ul> <li>Introduction to the Data Flow Task. Connection Manager and Data Flow Task basics - source and destination adapters.</li> </ul> <p>Lesson 3: The Control Flow</p> <ul> <li>Containers, Precedence, and Work flow. </li> <li>Transactions, restart-ability, and blocking.</li> </ul> <p>Lesson 4: Loop Containers</p> <ul> <li>Using Sequence, For Loop, and Foreach Loop Containers.</li> </ul> <p>Lesson 5: Event Handlers, Logging, and Configurations</p> <ul> <li>The OnError and OnInformation event handlers. </li> <li>Using SSIS 2012’s built-in Catalog logging facility to capture package execution details and statistics. </li> <li>Using built-in package configurations to externalize variable values. </li> <li>Using SSIS 2012 Parameters and Environments.</li> </ul> <p>Lesson 6: Security, Deployment, and Execution</p> <ul> <li>SSIS 2012 Package deployment options and security implications. </li> <li>SSIS Catalog Execution options.</li> </ul> <p>Lesson 7: Hacking the SSIS 2012 Catalog</p> <ul> <li>Understand the SSIS 2012 Catalog design. </li> <li>Extending the SSIS 212 Catalog.</li> </ul> <p>Lesson 8: Enterprise Execution Patterns</p> <ul> <li>Leveraging the SSIS 2012 Catalog and the Parent-Child design pattern to build a metadata-driven SSIS execution engine.<strong></strong></li> <li>Extending SSIS with Custom Tasks </li> <li>Data integration dashboards: One approach to data integration management.</li> </ul> <p>:{&gt;</p>This Isn’t Hard: Allow Spouses to Attend Conferenceshttp://sqlblog.com/blogs/andy_leonard/archive/2013/07/27/this-isn-t-hard-allow-spouses-to-attend-conferences.aspxSat, 27 Jul 2013 15:20:35 GMT21093a07-8b3d-42db-8cbf-3350fcbf5496:50287andyleonard<p>There was a bit of a <a href="http://goodenoughsoftware.net/2013/07/18/the-charlie-foxtrot-aka-teched/" target="_blank">hubbub at Tech Ed 2013 North America</a>. It began with generalized disorganization, escalated when site security escorted Greg Young’s (<a href="http://goodenoughsoftware.net/" target="_blank">blog</a> | <a href="http://twitter.com/gregyoung" target="_blank">@gregyoung</a>) wife from the building, and ended with him cancelling his presentations at both the North American and European conferences. </p> <p>Greg’s post has generated some responses, but – according to him – nothing from Microsoft. That’s disappointing. Greg and his wife deserve an apology.</p> <p><strong>Why Not?</strong></p> <p>The best conferences I’ve attended (I’m looking at you, <a href="http://sqlbits.com/" target="_blank">SQLBits</a> and <a href="http://www.devlink.net/" target="_blank">DevLink</a>) don’t have a problem with family members attending. And other awesome events like <a href="http://www.devconnections.com/" target="_blank">SQLConnections</a> encourage spouses to attend peripheral events – at no extra charge. Somehow, with their lower budgets and tighter fire marshal requirements in smaller spaces, they manage to allow spouses and/or children to attend; while conferences with literally million-plus-dollar budgets (I’m looking at you Tech Ed and PASS) do not.</p> <p>Why not?</p> <p>Are the event organizers worried the spouses are going to ruin the event for the other geeks? Are the seven-plus-figure budgets of the organizers not sufficient to cover a handful of family-member attendees? Are the planners unable to plan for an extra handful of people on the premises? Are the event organizers worried people are going to get married in order to cheat the organizers out of a couple thousand dollars? I mean, exactly <em>what</em> is the problem with a few other people attending? </p> <p>People are attending the event. The last time I purchased event insurance for Richmond Code Camp the insurance cost a couple hundred dollars and insured all the people on the premises at the time. The family members are people. They’re covered. So it’s not insurance. </p> <p>Event organizers can plan for this. Add a checkbox to the online registration form, just in case the organizers are worried about the event being overrun by significant others (I hope the excuse isn’t this lame).</p> <p>Speakers have families (is this news?). Some speakers travel a lot, doing interesting work, which is kind of why the conference selected them to speak in the first place. If the conference doesn’t pay the speaker to present, and many do not, why in the world will they not allow a spouse to step into a room to take a few pictures? Or watch someone they care about do what they love? Or experience the honor of presenting at a major conference with their partner?</p> <p>This is solvable. Let them in. For free. Limit their access to their family member’s presentation if you must. But let them in. This isn’t hard.</p>The Windows Azure Software Development Kit (SDK) and the Windows Azure Training Kit (WATK)http://sqlblog.com/blogs/buck_woody/archive/2012/09/12/the-windows-azure-software-development-kit-sdk-and-the-windows-azure-training-kit-watk.aspxWed, 12 Sep 2012 13:40:40 GMT21093a07-8b3d-42db-8cbf-3350fcbf5496:45165BuckWoody<p>Windows Azure is a platform that allows you to write software, run software, or use software that we've already written. We provide lots of resources to help you do that - many can be found right here in this blog series. There are two primary resources you can use, and it's important to understand what they are and what they do.</p>
<p><a href="http://officeimg.vo.msecnd.net/en-us/images/MH900441285.jpg"><img width="121" height="107" style="float:left;max-width:550px;" alt="" src="http://officeimg.vo.msecnd.net/en-us/images/MH900441285.jpg" border="0" /></a></p>
<h1>The Windows Azure Software Development Kit (SDK)</h1>
<p>Actually, this isn't one resource. We have SDK's for multiple development environments, such as Visual Studio and also Eclipse, along with SDK's for iOS, Android and other environments. Windows Azure is a "back end", so almost any technology or front end system can use it to solve a problem.</p>
<p>The SDK's are primarily for development. In the case of Visual Studio, you'll get a runtime environment for Windows Azure which allows you to develop, test and even run code all locally - you do not have to be connected to Windows Azure at all, until you're ready to deploy.</p>
<p>You'll also get a few samples and codeblocks, along with all of the libraries you need to code with Windows Azure in .NET, PHP, Ruby, Java and more.</p>
<p>The SDK is updated frequently, so check this location to find the latest for your environment and language - just click the bar that corresponds to what you want:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/develop/downloads/" target="_blank">http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/develop/downloads/</a></p>
<p><a href="http://officeimg.vo.msecnd.net/en-us/images/MH900438678.jpg"><img width="151" height="163" style="margin:2px 5px;border:0px currentColor;float:left;max-width:550px;" src="http://officeimg.vo.msecnd.net/en-us/images/MH900438678.jpg" /></a></p>
<h1>The Windows Azure Training Kit (WATK)</h1>
<p>Whether you're writing code, using Windows Azure Virtual Machines (VM's) or working with Hadoop, you can use the WATK to get examples, code, PowerShell scripts, PowerPoint decks, training videos and much more. This should be your second download after the SDK. This is all of the training you need to get started, and even beyond. The WATK is updated frequently - and you can find the latest one here:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/develop/net/other-resources/training-kit/" target="_blank">http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/develop/net/other-resources/training-kit/</a></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>There are many other resources - again, check the <a href="http://windowsazure.com">http://windowsazure.com</a> site, the <a href="http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/community/newsletter/2012/june/" target="_blank">community newsletter (which introduces the latest features)</a>, and <a href="http://sqlblog.com/b/buckwoody/rss.aspx" target="_blank">my blog for more</a>.</p>Presenting at the NJ SQL Server User Group Tuesday 21 Feb 2012!http://sqlblog.com/blogs/andy_leonard/archive/2012/02/14/presenting-at-the-nj-sql-server-user-group-tuesday-21-feb-2012.aspxTue, 14 Feb 2012 12:00:00 GMT21093a07-8b3d-42db-8cbf-3350fcbf5496:41724andyleonard<p>I am honored to present “Building Your First SSIS Package in SQL Server 2012” at the <a href="http://njsql.org/" target="_blank">NJ SQL Server User Group</a> Tuesday, 21 Feb 2012 starting at 6:00 PM!</p> <p>If you read this blog and will be in the area, please stop by and introduce yourself! I’m the fat guy with a fu.</p> <p>:{&gt;</p>A less shameless plug : PASS sessions I've voted as &quot;preferred&quot;http://sqlblog.com/blogs/aaron_bertrand/archive/2011/05/17/a-less-shameless-plug-pass-sessions-i-ve-voted-as-preferred.aspxTue, 17 May 2011 21:46:00 GMT21093a07-8b3d-42db-8cbf-3350fcbf5496:35695AaronBertrand<p>Not that my preferences really mean a hill of beans to anyone else, but since I've <a href="http://sqlblog.com/blogs/aaron_bertrand/archive/2011/05/17/shameless-plug-vote-for-my-pass-submissions.aspx" title="http://sqlblog.com/blogs/aaron_bertrand/archive/2011/05/17/shameless-plug-vote-for-my-pass-submissions.aspx" target="_blank">asked for your vote on my sessions</a>, I'd also like to share the list of sessions that I've marked as "preferred" so far. Now, since we have no idea what the schedule will be, we can pick and choose the sessions without any concern about who's up against who in the same time slot; we can leave that agony for the day the schedule is released. In the meantime, you can pick the sessions you'd like to see, in an ideal world with no conflicts!<br></p><p><b><br>Pre-cons </b></p><p>I doubt I will have the opportunity to attend any pre-cons, but if I did, here are the two that would most likely end in some arbitrary tie-breaker: <br></p><blockquote>Future Diagnostic improvements in Denali [300]<br> Microsoft CSS Team (<a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/b/psssql/" title="http://blogs.msdn.com/b/psssql/" target="_blank">blog</a>)<br><br>A Deep Dive into AlwaysOn: Failover Clustering and Availability Groups [400] <br>Allan Hirt (<a href="http://www.sqlha.com/blog/" title="http://www.sqlha.com/blog/" target="_blank">blog</a> | <a href="http://twitter.com/SQLHA" title="http://twitter.com/SQLHA" target="_blank">twitter</a>)<br> <br></blockquote><p><b>Regular sessions &amp; spotlights<br></b></p><p>These are the top 10 that stood out to me, in no particular order. Some I chose because I really enjoy sessions by these people, others I chose because I am very interested in the topic or I feel the need for a refresher.<br></p><blockquote>Everything You Didn't Know You Need to Know About Database Mirroring [300]<br> Robert Davis (<a href="http://www.sqlsoldier.com/wp/" title="http://www.sqlsoldier.com/wp/" target="_blank">blog</a> | <a href="http://twitter.com/SQLSoldier" title="http://twitter.com/SQLSoldier" target="_blank">twitter</a>)<br><br> Implementing SQL Server Denali Using Windows Server Core [400] <br>Allan Hirt&nbsp; (<a href="http://www.sqlha.com/blog/" title="http://www.sqlha.com/blog/" target="_blank">blog</a> | <a href="http://twitter.com/SQLHA" title="http://twitter.com/SQLHA" target="_blank">twitter</a>)<br><br> Joins, SARGability and the Evils of Residualiciousness [300]<br> Rob Farley (<a href="http://sqlblog.com/blogs/rob_farley/" title="http://sqlblog.com/blogs/rob_farley/" target="_blank">blog</a> | <a href="http://twitter.com/rob_farley" title="http://twitter.com/rob_farley" target="_blank">twitter</a>)<br><br>100 Years of Transaction solitude [400] <br>Ami Levin (<a href="http://twitter.com/DBSophic" title="http://twitter.com/DBSophic" target="_blank">twitter</a>)<p>Advanced SQL Server 2008 Troubleshooting [400] <br>Klaus Aschenbrenner (<a href="http://www.csharp.at/blog/" title="http://www.csharp.at/blog/" target="_blank">blog</a> | <a href="http://twitter.com/aschenbrenner" title="http://twitter.com/aschenbrenner" target="_blank">twitter</a>)<br><br>Undocumented Query Plans [400] <br>Paul White (<a href="http://sqlblog.com/blogs/paul_white/" title="http://sqlblog.com/blogs/paul_white/" target="_blank">blog</a> | <a href="http://twitter.com/SQL_Kiwi" title="http://twitter.com/SQL_Kiwi" target="_blank">twitter</a>)<br><br>Inside the SQL Server Query Optimizer [400]<br>Benjamin Nevarez (<a href="http://www.benjaminnevarez.com/" title="http://www.benjaminnevarez.com/" target="_blank">blog</a> | <a href="http://twitter.com/BenjaminNevarez" title="http://twitter.com/BenjaminNevarez" target="_blank">twitter</a>)<br><br>PDW Architecture and Internals [400] <br>Richard Waymire, Brian Walker</p><p>SQL Server Execution Plans – From Compilation To Caching To Reuse [400] <br>Maciej Pilecki (<a href="http://twitter.com/DrHouseOfSQL" title="http://twitter.com/DrHouseOfSQL" target="_blank">twitter</a>)<br><br>Extended Events, Work Smarter Not Harder [300] <br>Jason Strate (<a href="http://www.jasonstrate.com/" title="http://www.jasonstrate.com/" target="_blank">blog</a> | <a href="http://twitter.com/strateSQL" title="http://twitter.com/strateSQL" target="_blank">twitter</a>)</p></blockquote><p>&nbsp; <br>If you want to mark sessions as preferences, please visit the <a href="http://www.sqlpass.org/summit/2011/Speakers/SessionPreferencing.aspx" title="http://www.sqlpass.org/summit/2011/Speakers/SessionPreferencing.aspx" target="_blank">PASS web site</a> (login required).</p><p>&nbsp; <br></p>The results are in: I'm an okay speaker.http://sqlblog.com/blogs/aaron_bertrand/archive/2011/02/14/the-results-are-in-i-m-an-okay-speaker.aspxTue, 15 Feb 2011 00:41:00 GMT21093a07-8b3d-42db-8cbf-3350fcbf5496:33484AaronBertrand<p>Last weekend I spoke at <a href="http://www.sqlsaturday.com/60/eventhome.aspx" title="http://www.sqlsaturday.com/60/eventhome.aspx" target="_blank">SQL Saturday #60</a> in Cleveland, Ohio. I had a great time catching up with some existing friends and colleagues, and met a bunch of new people too. I presented two sessions: What's New in Denali, and T-SQL: Bad Habits to Kick.&nbsp; Yesterday the organizers passed along the scanned-in speaker evaluations (this was the first SQL Saturday event where I found folks to be quite motivated to fill out the forms, since it was how they drew the door prizes).&nbsp; And being the ADD person I am, I quickly transcribed the scores and started pulling averages. I thought my presentations went rather well, with one exception that I'll get to in a moment. <br></p>
<p>First, let me say that I'm always pretty apprehensive about feedback from presentations. There is always going to be a wide range of expectations at an event like a SQL Saturday - whether it be because someone has been to 10 of these events or it's their first time, or even that they may have seen a worse or better speaker right before my session. So I try to take everything with a grain of salt, not letting praise go to my head, and at the same time not letting criticism get me down too much.</p>
<p>That said, my big issue at this event was time management. I'd given the Denali presentation before, and this time the crowd was less than 15 (12 evals were submitted). Several folks had very good questions, so I ended up having to rush at the end to finish the content and leave the room with enough time for the next speaker to get set up. Then my Bad Habits session, in a smaller room, had well over 50 people (43 submitted evals). For this presentation I listed my "12 step program" - 12 bad habits that I'm hopeful to help other people break. I was expecting a lot more pushback, arguments and denial about whether SELECT * or sending @@IDENTITY via RETURN are bad habits. Ever try to tell a smoker they shouldn't smoke? That's what I was prepared for. But alas, the crowd was mostly silent, so I breezed through my decks in about 35 minutes... this forced me to scramble to fill the remainder of my time and make sure people got their money's worth.&nbsp; As noted on a few of the evals, a lighter session at the end of the day was actually appreciated, but it was certainly not my intention.&nbsp; </p>
<p>The ratings on the speaker evaluations are Very Poor, Poor, Average, Good and Excellent - I've given these scores of 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 respectively. Logical, I assume, but just thought I would clarify (I actually calculated it on a scale of 0 - 4, but my one "Poor" checkbox made me cry a little). Overall, I think people were quite kind, given the fact that I know both presentations could have been better. I don't put a whole lot of weight into the first question; unless my session has a very inaccurate title, the attendees should have some sense of whether it will be useful for them before they come - and if they just want to come because it's interesting to them even if it has nothing to do with their day job, it's still not really fair to count that against me.&nbsp; </p>
<p>In any event, my scores were as follows - I've highlighted the high (green) and low (red) in each column:</p>
<blockquote>
<table style="border-collapse:collapse;" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0">
<tr>
<th style="border:1px solid black;">How would you rate the...</th>
<th style="border:1px solid black;" align="center">What's New in Denali<br>(43 evals)</th>
<th style="border:1px solid black;" align="center">T-SQL: Bad Habits to Kick<br>(12 evals)</th>
<th style="border:1px solid black;" align="center">Combined Average<br>(55 evals)</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border:1px solid black;">...usefulness of the session information in your day-to-day environment?</td>
<td style="border:1px solid black;" align="center">4.083</td>
<td style="border:1px solid black;" align="center">4.512</td>
<td style="border:1px solid black;" align="center">4.418</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border:1px solid black;">...Speaker's presentation skills?</td>
<td style="border:1px solid black;" align="center">4.583</td>
<td style="border:1px solid black;" align="center">4.488</td>
<td style="border:1px solid black;" align="center">4.509</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border:1px solid black;">...Speaker's knowledge of the subject?</td>
<td style="border:1px solid black;" align="center"><font color="#009900" size="3"><b>4.750</b></font></td>
<td style="border:1px solid black;" align="center"><font color="#009900" size="3"><b>4.767</b></font></td>
<td style="border:1px solid black;" align="center"><font size="3"><b><font color="#009900">4.764</font></b></font></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border:1px solid black;">...accuracy of the session title, description and experience level?</td>
<td style="border:1px solid black;" align="center">4.417</td>
<td style="border:1px solid black;" align="center">4.628</td>
<td style="border:1px solid black;" align="center">4.582</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border:1px solid black;">...amount of time allocated to cover the topic / session?</td>
<td style="border:1px solid black;" align="center"><font size="3"><b><font color="#cc0000">3.667</font></b></font></td>
<td style="border:1px solid black;" align="center"><font size="3"><b><font color="#cc0000">4.143</font></b></font></td>
<td style="border:1px solid black;" align="center"><font color="#cc0000"><b><font size="3">4.037</font></b></font></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border:1px solid black;">...quality of the presentation materials?</td>
<td style="border:1px solid black;" align="center">4.167</td>
<td style="border:1px solid black;" align="center">4.419</td>
<td style="border:1px solid black;" align="center">4.435</td>
</tr>
</table>
</blockquote>
<p>My take-away from this: I need to be better at adjusting the pace
depending on how many interruptions I'm seeing (I will never be the guy
who tells you to wait until later on to speak up). How I fix this is kind of up in the air, because next time
I might have a much more vocal crowd ready to challenge each and every
slide. I should have demos prepared for every single habit, and start skipping them if time starts to get
tight. This may mean re-ordering my slide deck to put the most controversial habits first.</p><p>It's always a pleasure to offer up my opinions and experience to the community. If one person benefits in any way from a session, then I consider it a success. I know I have certainly learned from every presentation I've given, and last weekend was no exception. I am hoping the speaker evaluations continue to be representative of the whole crowd so I can accurately use this post as a measuring stick to see how I am learning to be a better presenter.</p><p>Thanks, as always, for your candid feedback. </p><p>&nbsp; <br></p>Updated slide decks from SSMS presentation at SNESSUGhttp://sqlblog.com/blogs/aaron_bertrand/archive/2010/03/15/updated-slide-decks-from-ssms-presentation-at-snessug.aspxTue, 16 Mar 2010 01:55:00 GMT21093a07-8b3d-42db-8cbf-3350fcbf5496:23424AaronBertrand<p>Tonight I spoke at the SNESSUG user group meeting in Warwick, RI.&nbsp; You can download the slide deck here (this is a 3.5 MB PDF with presenter notes):</p><blockquote><a href="http://sqlblog.com/files/folders/23423/download.aspx" title="http://sqlblog.com/files/folders/23423/download.aspx" target="_blank">http://sqlblog.com/files/folders/23423/download.aspx</a></blockquote><p>If you attended the talk, please feel free to provide feedback at speakerrate.com: </p><blockquote><p><a href="http://speakerrate.com/talks/2849-management-studio-tips-tricks" title="http://speakerrate.com/talks/2849-management-studio-tips-tricks" target="_blank">http://speakerrate.com/talks/2849-management-studio-tips-tricks</a> </p></blockquote><p>Today also happened to be a birthday celebration for Grant Fritchey (<a href="http://scarydba.wordpress.com/" title="http://scarydba.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">blog</a> | <a href="http://twitter.com/GFritchey" title="http://twitter.com/GFritchey" target="_blank">twitter</a>).&nbsp; He <a href="http://scarydba.wordpress.com/2010/03/15/snessug-march-meeting/" title="http://scarydba.wordpress.com/2010/03/15/snessug-march-meeting/" target="_blank">blogged about the meeting</a> and also took a <a href="http://tweetphoto.com/14536590" title="http://tweetphoto.com/14536590" target="_blank">picture of the cake</a> I brought for him.&nbsp; :-)<br></p>